Racing and Training 2018

am Nine of us did 12 miles at 10 mm pace... the Bishton loop. There were... Me, Stuart Howison, Chris Stevens, Elinor Philips, Mel Shipton, Sarah Francis, Huw Evans, Louise Muteham and Naomi Hibberd. Stuart and Naomi were back at the tail but both did well. The others were running well within themselves.

I ran to the Riverfront. I did the parkrun at a canter. I jog / walked home

I did six @ six. We did the original route.

am I did the Lliswerry Special 8 training session running at 10 mm. We left the tennis centre and regrouped at the start of the Lliswerry 8. We ran the course and afterwards i jogged back to the Tennis Centre with Stuart Salvage. I ran with... John Hill, Teej Dew, Lisa & David Bateman, Maria English, and Gareth Yeoman with Rachel Avon finishing strongly behind us. after that I went to Rodney Parade to get my Newport County v Leicester City match ticket. I also went to the Greyhound. I missed Slimming World.

am I did the Glynneath 5 mile road race as a training run with Roni. I started off steady and wound the pace up. I did not have a chip so I may not be in the results.

am I ran to the Riverfront. I did a fast riverfront parkrun. I ran home

am I did the am LSR for 10 minute miling. There was Gareth Jenkins and his Neighbour Matt plus me Mel Shipton and Chris Stevens. We did my Lliswerry 8 loop plus start 7 finish (exact 10 miles) and I did it in exactly 1:40:00.

pm I did Ruth's S & C session at the Velodrome

Christmas fun session near to the transporter bridge with the Lliswerry Wednesday evening crew.

pm We did the High Cross Horror (Christmas Edition). This was basically the High Cross Horror route but starting out up Fields Park Road to look for Christmas illuminations. Quite a few runners finished at the Handpost for a Christmas drink. Some of us didn't! I was running with Steve Crowther and Janine. We also had group 6 for a while... that comprised Carl, Maria David & Laura Rendell. They cut it short down High Cross Road.

pm We did a track Christmas special with NEWTs. It was basically circuit training with stations at the 200 metre points on the track. So 200 metre run then exercises and repeat for 5K. Very tough.

am Did the Lliswerry 8 loop . Exited the NISV via Langland way on to the SDR and round to Nash Road. Returned the same way. It is 10 miles exactly. There were 5 of us. Naomi & Mel, Me, Chris and Stuart Howison. We did 10 minute miling pretty much exactly. After yesterday's storms it was nice to have a window of no rain and just a mild breeze.

am Jogged to the river front. Did the parkrun. Jog walked home. All in the worst weather of the winter so far. It was cold with a wind chill factor thrown in and it was very wet. I wore arthritis gloves ostensibly to keep my hands warm but when they were saturated they served to keep my hands very cold indeed. My hands were blue/orange when I peeled the gloves off outside my house. I had to take them off to be able to unzip my pocket and get my house keys out. Once again my running was affected by the Thursday S&C session. I commented on Strava thus... Strength and conditioning on Thursday evening affects parkrun time on Saturday morning. It even adds about 5 minutes on to the time it takes to put my socks on. parkrun time was quicker than last week only because the weather was so bad I didn't stop to talk to anyone.

pm Six at Six was Waterloo sunset. There were 7 of us. Me, Julie Davies, Steve C, Louise, Chris Stevens, Richard Talbot and Richard Steele (a friend of Steve & Roni).

pm S & C with Ruth at the Velodrome warm up included high knees & bum flicks Squats Lunges Get ups Planks side planks glute bridges Press ups planks and touch chest

pm I did 4 sets of intervals on the riverfront two bridges circuit with group 5.

pm I did a Lliswerry Tuesday from the Civic centre. We did Dewsland Park Road Hill reps. For a warm up we ran up Caerau Road and along to the top of Dewsland Park Road. We jogged down the hill on the left side and then ran up with effort. We did four reps. Warm up 13 minutes. Down - 3:37 - up 3:10 Recovery & down - 5:20 - up 3:17 Recovery & down - 5:15 - up 3:12 Recovery & down - 5:15 - up 3:05 cool down - 10:23

pm I did 4 * 1600 on the track with Nick Davies and Angela Potter plus a group of NEWTs. Interval times were 7:48; 7:36; 7:30 and 7:28. Starting to feel good.

am I did the Llanwern / Bishton loop with Naomi & Chris. Mel Shipton & Sarah Kembrey were with us (or just in front of us) for much of the way. We separated at "The Queen's Way" the long straight road which links Magor & the SDR, retail park etc. Mel & Sarah chose to do extra distance while we three headed back to the NISV via a 2.5 mile straight road into a strong headwind. It was very character building. It was 10.48 miles according to Garmin. We went out round the stadium so that was part of the excess.

am jog to the Riverfront (via St Julian's Road). Did the Riverfront parkrun. Jog / walk (mostly walk) home. DOMS alert! I struggled ... probably due to Ruth's S & C session. Those squatty things ... moving left and right touching the floor.